Strategies and balanced scorecard measures for a country Brian Henshall, Foundation Emeritus Professor of Management at The University of

            Strategies and balanced scorecard measures for a country

Brian Henshall, Foundation Emeritus Professor of Management at The University of Auckland, suggests a number of potential performance measures that could be used to monitor performance for the country of New Zealand. Henshall recommends that the measures be published monthly to gauge progress. He also argues that a discussion of potential performance measures would help citizens define what they want. Ultimately, the measures could be used to monitor the performance of elected officials. Following are some of Henshall’s suggestions.

Tangible wealth:

·       gross domestic product (GDP) percentage change as a measure of growth

·       the ratio of government wealth creation to business wealth creation as a measure of government economic performance

·       GDP per person employed and per total number of people in New Zealand as efficiency measures

·       New Zealand dollar exchange rate (percentage change for last quarter or last year) as a measure of economic stability

·       number of bankrupt firms to all trading entities as a measure of business stability

Environmental intangible wealth:

·       a pollution index that measures degradation of the environment from pollution

·       a ratio of protected land relative to total government-owned land

·       a ratio of alternative energy resources relative to total energy produced Physical and social infrastructure:

·       educational expense as a percentage of GDP

·       health care expense as a percentage of GDP

·       accidents index

·       serious crimes index

Demographics:

·       changes in population growth, year to year

·       growth in education levels

·       a demographic index that monitors innovations by diversity of peoples

·       unemployment rates

Source: Information from Henshall, BD 2002, ‘Kiwi Scorecard,’ New Zealand Management, July 2002, pp. 15 ff.

Required

(a)     Suppose government officials developed an objective to increase the number of college graduates because they believe increased education will lead to increased GDP. Brainstorm and identify several ideas for action plans to carry out this strategy.

(b)     Pick one of your ideas from part (a) and discuss its pros and cons.

(c)     Brainstorm ideas for action plans to increase the number of high school graduates.

(d)     Pick one of your ideas from part (c) and discuss its pros and cons.